California Online Poker costing the state millions

CANADIAN ANALYST SAYS CALIFORNIA IS MISSING OUT ON A GOLDEN POKER OPPORTUNITY
 
Continued failure of legalization bills is costing the state millions.
 
In the latest issue of the Cantor Fitzgerald newsletter Cantech Letter, analyst Ralph Garcea gives “Buy” ratings on internet poker providers like Amaya, Intertain Group, Innova Gaming, and NYX Gaming, but notes that it is unfortunate for online gamers and for the state of California that state lawmakers continue to arrive at an impasse when it comes to passing an online poker legalization bill.
 
Garcea notes that New Jersey, which recently moved to allow online gaming, had a banner month in the typically slow July, with Internet GGR up sharply, and he claims that with about a million online poker players in California that market is estimated to be worth more than $400-million, with a proposed 10 percent tax on the table.
 
The state is missing out on a tax windfall that other states have jumped on, Garcea observes.
 
“With California’s 2016 legislature session coming to a close on August 31, 2016, PokerStars will have to wait, unfortunately, until next year to see if the state will bring legalized and regulated poker to the state’s many users,” says the analyst.
 
“This marks yet another legislative session where an online poker bill has not been voted on – no online poker bill has ever been voted on by the full Assembly. While California still tries to make up its decade-old mind, Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware all have legalized and regulated online gambling – with New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan moving along the process.”
 
Garcea notes that for Amaya, California probably isn’t in the cards in the short term due to the insistence by some interested parties on draconian "bad actor" provisions in any legislative proposal.